Shaping Indo-Israeli artworks

Art transcends the boundaries of culture and language and the ‘Dastkari Haat Craft Bazaar 2018’ is a perfect example of such exchange. Artists from Israel have come to the city to teach their craft and learn from Indian artists during this bazaar.

Organised by Dastkari Haat Samiti in collaboration with the Ministry of Textiles, the bazaar opened to the public recently. While the Ambassador of Israel, Daniel Carmon, welcomed the initiative; Jaya Jailtley, the founder of Dastkari Haat Samiti  also said, “This festival is a unique platform where our craftspeople get to interact and share their skills with their foreign counterparts. We will probably exhibit the products made by this joint effort on January 14. Let’s see what they come up with.”

The final day on January 14 will see a display of unique amalgamation of work by Indian and Israeli artists. There are five artists from Israel exhibiting and working here during this bazaar. The works range from genres like papier mache by Vered Otmy, patchwork by Orna Shahar, embroidery in textile by Sassona Schits, paper cutwork by Janine Golbert and wire mesh by Nihad Dabeet.

Papier mache artist Vered Otmy with Sundari Bai.

The papier mache work has been created by acclaimed folk artist from Chhattisgarh, Sundari Bai. She will also work with Vered Otmy and come up with a piece that symbolises cultural exchange. Artist Vered said, “Even though we do not speak the same language, we are both artists and creativity flows through the heart. So we will see where this creative energy takes us and what kind of exhibits we come up with.”

Sundari Bai too reiterated her point, “We were introduced to each other through the Samiti. Let’s see where this experiment takes us and what we come up with. We have not decided what we are going to create yet.”

Artist Sassona Schits with a friend and Reshma Rehman Ansari.

The artists working on wire too are looking forward to this  unique collaboration. Mohammad Rafiq, from Delhi, who works with wire and makes unique designs that also serve as candleholders was much excited about the project. “We haven’t ideated yet but will soon get to work,” he shared.

His counterpart from Israel, Nihad Dabeet, who also works with wire shared, “My style of working is very different from his. I make pure art, while his works also has an aspect of utility. So it will be interesting to see how the works shape up. I am looking forward to this collaborative artwork.”

However, the artists working on embroidery have already figured out what they are going to make. Sassona Schits, who loves to work with thread, said, “We are going to design purses. One of them will have a traditional architectural design and the other will feature a female figure. While these are the two designs we have finalised, we are yet to think of the rest of the designs.”

An art work by Vered Otmy.

The pair wants to design three purses each. While Sossana will be designing purses with Indian style of embroidery, her Indian counterpart, Reshma Rehman Ansari will make Israeli designs on the purses. “I am glad to be a part of this event, it is a great learning opportunity,” shared Reshma.

The cultural exchange of art and artistic knowledge was also welcomed by Ditza Froim, Minister of Public Diplomacy, who said, “We have been doing a lot of cultural exchange programmes here. Such exchanges are very important for artists and cultures to grow and I am looking forward to the final works.”

Dastkari Haat Craft Bazaar 2018 is on at Dilli Haat till January 15